feel. introduce world leaders with whom i had the privilege to serve your good friends and i'm honored to have you here in the promise land. i want to welcome the members of congress. mr. speaker, appreciate you coming. and the diplomatic corp, i know you all will be happy to hear that this speech is a lot shorter than the state of the union. i thank the governors, governor of our own home state and others, mayors, state and local officials who joined us. i welcome members of my cabinet, the white house staff and administration especially vice president dick cheney. [ applause ] from the day i asked dick to run with me he served with loyalty, principle and strength. proud to call you friend.

history's going to show that i served with great people, a talented, dedicated, intelligent team of men and women who love our nation as much as i do. i want to thank the people who have made this project a success. president gerald turner runs a fantastic university. [ applause ] a university with active trustees, dedicated faculty and a student body that is awesome. i want to thank david, allen low and the professaionals at the national archives and records administration who have taken on a great task.

i appreciate the architects, landscapers and designers, especially bob stern, michael van bokenberg and thank the folks of manhattan construction as well as all the workers who build a fine facility that will stand the test of time. i thank the fantastic team of the george w. bush center headed by mark langdale and jim glassman and my long-time pal donny evans. much to the delight, much to the delight of the folks who worked on this project we have raised enough money to pay our bills. we have over 300,000 contributors from all 50 states. and laura and i thank you from the bottom of our hearts. [ applause ] this is the first time in american history that parents

have seen their son's presidential library. mother, i promise to keep my area clean. barbara bush taught me to live life to the fullest, to laugh a lot and to speak my mind. a trait that sometimes got us both into trouble. dad taught me how to be a president, before that he showed me how to be a man. and 41, it is awesome that you are here today. [ cheers and applause ] i welcome, i welcome my dear brothers and sister as well as in-laws, cousins, nephews, nieces, uncles, all of you for joining us. our family has meant more to me than anything and i thank you for making it so. not so long ago this campus was home to a beautiful west texan

named laura welch. when she earned her degree in library science, i'm not sure this day's exactly what she had in mind. she's been a source of strength and support and inspiration ever since we met in the o neil's backyard. one of the joys watching laura serve as first lady, the american people rightly love her and so do i. laura's going to be even better in her next role, grandmother. it was a joy -- i can't tell you what a joy it was to hold little mila. and i am really happy that mila's mother and father, jenna and henry, could make it here today. thank you all for coming. so if you don't have anything to do in the morning, tune into the

"today" show, jenna's a correspondent thereby continuing the warm relations the bush family has with the national press. and i'm really proud of barbara who's with us for her incredible work to serve others and to save lives. [ applause ] today marks a major milestone in a journey that began 20 years ago when i announced my campaign for governor of texas. some of you were there that day, i mean a lot of you were there that day. i picture you looking a little younger. you probably picture me with a little less gray hair. in politics you learn who your real friends are. and our friends have stood with us every step of the way. and today's the day to give you a proper thanks.

in democracy, the purpose of public office is not to fulfill personal ambition. elected officials must serve a cause greater than themselves. the political winds blow left and right, polls rise and fall, supporters come and go, but in the end leaders are defined by the convictions they hold. and my deepest conviction, the guiding principle of the administration, is that the united states of america must strive to expand the reach of freedom. [ applause ] i believe that freedom is a gift from god and the hope of every human heart. freedom inspired our founders and preserved our union through civil war and secured the promise of civil rights. freedom sustains dissidents

bound by change and voters who risked their lives to cast their ballots. freedom unleashes creativity, rewards innovation and replaces poverty with prosperity. and ultimately freedom writes the path to peace. freedom brings responsibility. independence from the state does not mean isolation from each other. a free society thrives when neighbors help neighbors and the strong protect the weak and public policies promote private compassion. as president i tried to act on these principles every day. it wasn't always easy and certainly wasn't always popular. one of the benefits of freedom is that people can disagree. say i created plenty of opportunities to exercise that right, but when future generations come to this library instead of this administration,

they're going to find out that we stayed true to our convictions. [ applause ] that we expanded freedom at home by raising standards in schools and lowering taxes for everybody. that we liberated nations from dictatorship and freed people from aids. and then when our freedom came under attack, we made the tough decisions required to keep the american people safe. [ applause ] the same principles define the mission of the presidential center. i'm retired from politics, happily so i might add, but not from public service. we'll use our influence to help more children start life with a quality education, to help more americans find jobs and economic opportunity, to help more countries overcome poverty and

disease, to help more people in every part of the world live in freedom. we'll work to empower women around the world to transform their countries, stand behind the courageous men and women who have stepped forward to wear the uniform of the united states to defend our flag and our freedoms here at home. ultimately the success of a nation depends on the character of its citizens. as president i had the privilege to see that character up close. i saw it in the first responders who charged up the stairs into the flames to save people's lives from burning towers. i saw it in the virginia tech professor who barricaded his classroom door with his body until his students escaped to safety. i saw it in the people in new orleans who made homemade boats to rescue their neighbors from the floods. saw it in the service members who laid down their lives to

keep our country safe and to make other nations free. franklin roosevelt once described the dedication of a library is an act of faith. i dedicate this library with unshakable faith in the future of our country. honorable lifetime to lead the country as brave and as noble as the united states. whatever challenges come before us, i will always believe our nation's best days lie ahead. god bless. [ cheers and applause ]

[ cheers and applause ] >> please stand for the national anthem, benediction and retirement of colors. ♪ ♪ oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light what so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming ♪

♪ through the night with bright stars through the perilous fight o' r the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming ♪ ♪ and the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air gave proof through the night that our flag was still there ♪ ♪ oh say does that star spangled banner yet wave for the land of the free and the home of the

brave ♪ we'll continue to watch what's going on at the dedication of the george w. bush library, but there's breaking news coming into cnn right now. a major development in the civil war in syria. the defense secretary chuck hagel now saying the u.s. has evidence, evidence, that chemical weapons have been used in that conflict by the syrian regime. this comes just a few days after a top israeli intelligence official similarly said israel believes the syrian military has used chemical weapons, specifically sarin gas. the white house has just released copies, identical letters, sent to carl levin, the senator of armed services and senator john mccain, ranking member of the armed services committee stipulating that u.s. intelligence, the assessment now

is that the syrian regime has used chemical weapons which earlier the president had insisted if that were true it would be in his words a game changer. >> that's right, wolf. and this is indeed a major development because earlier this week jay carney was asked about some of these claims from the israelis about chemical weapons being used inside syria and he said that the administration was skeptical. and now the administration saying that they have gotten information and came to this conclusion within the last 24 hours. you pointed out those two letters sent from the president's legislative -- director of legislative affairs, miguel rodriguez, sent to senators carl levin and also senators john mccain -- senator john mccain and in that letter spelling out some of the details saying in part "our intelligence community does assess with varying degrees of confidence that the syrian regime has used chemical weapons on a small scale in syria, specifically the chemical agent sarin. that assessment is based on part

in physiological samples. our standard of evidence must build on corroborated facts. there is still this big question, wolf, because these samples that are out there, at least according to this letter officials saying that they can't confirm exactly how the exposure occurred and under what conditions. there's also the big issue and you alluded to this at the top of this report, what happens next? president obama has been very clear saying that the use of chemical weapons in syria would be a red line, that it would be a game changer. the administration now being very cautious spelling out in that letter while they do have this intelligence information that they want to make sure that they have credible real facts that will guide decisions moving forward. now, one other point, wolf, it's interesting that these letters came out at a time when president obama today during his remarks at the bush library out there in texas, a library that

has its interactive exhibit that talks about and deals with some of the controversial measures during the bush administration after 9/11. i think that's quite ironic that they are now specifically in this letter spelling out how they want to be careful with the intelligence that they have, make sure that they have all the facts on the ground before they decide what steps to take next. >> that's a good point because the intelligence community according to this letter believes with a certain degree of confidence that the syrians have used sarin gas, which would be illegal under international law. but then in the letter it does have this line and you point to it, dan, given the stakes involved and what we have learned from our own recent experience intelligence asse assessments alone are not sufficient, only credible and corroborated facts that provide us with some degree of certainty will guide our decision making and strengthen our leadership of the international community are a clear reference to the intelligence assessments that

the iraqis under saddam hussein had weapons of mass destruction, an intelligence assessment proved to be wrong once the u.s. went in and searched for those wmd stockpiles and couldn't find any. standby for a moment, dan. i want to play the clip. here's the defense secretary chuck hagel speaking just a little while ago on this very sensitive issue. >> this i think was meant to be kind of a wrap-up of five days which we can do, but i want to read a statement because i think this is going to consume most of your attention as it has the last couple of days. this morning the white house delivered a letter to several members of congress on the topic of chemical weapons used in syria. the letter, which will be made available to you here shortly as soon as george gets it, we'll get it to you, states that the u.s. intelligence community

assesses with some degree of varying confidence that the syrian regime has used chemical weapons on a small scale in syria. specifically the chemical agent sarin. as i have said, the intelligence community has been assessing information for some time on this issue. and the decision to reach this conclusion was made within the past 24 hours. and i have been in contact with senior officials in washington today and most recently the last couple of hours on this issue. we cannot confirm the origin of these weapons, but we do believe that any use of chemical weapons in syria would very likely have been originated with the assad regime. as the letter states, the president has made clear that the use of chemical reference or the transfer of such weapons to terrorist groups would be unacceptable. the united states has an obligation to fully investigate

including with all key partners and allies and through the united nations evidence of chemical weapons use in syria. over the past week i've traveled, as you all know, to five countries in the middle east. all of whom have expressed concern about the deteriorating situation in syria. and you've asked me on several occasions about the chemical weapons use. as i have said, this is serious business. we need all the facts. the letter will be available as soon as george gets it to you. and as you all know, i have no more to say about this until we get the full story as i think that will be the position of the administration. with that, ask any questions. >> secretary, does this cross the red line? >> well, first, i would answer your question this way. we need all the facts.

we need all the information. what i've just given you is what our intelligence community has said they know. as i've always said they're still assessing and they're still looking at what happened, who is responsible and the other specifics that we'll need. as to a red line, my role as secretary of defense is to give the president options on a policy issue, that's a policy issue. and we'll be prepared to do that at such time that the president requires options. >> did you say varying degrees of confidence? is that the phrase you used? what does that mean? >> i did. well, it means that we still have some uncertainties about what was used, what kind of chemical was used, where it was used, who used it.

well, as i said in the statement in talking to our intelligence people in the last couple hours, they have a reasonable amount of confidence that some amount of chemical weapons was used. >> all right. so there he is the defense secretary chuck hagel wrapping up a visit to the middle east. he's in abu dhabi. the senate armed service committee says there's now a consensus with varying degrees of confidence within the u.s. intelligence community that the syrian regime has used chemical weapons on a small scale in syria, specifically the chemical agent sarin. we're getting reaction coming in because as you just heard earlier the president had said if the syrian regime of bashar al asaid were to use chemical weapons against the rebels, that would be crossing a red line, a game-changer as far as president obama's concerned. so the question now is what will the obama administration do as

far as this information is concerned? let's take a quick break. we'll resume the breaking news coverage right after this. welcnew york state, where cutting taxes for families and businesses is our business. we've reduced taxes and lowered costs to save businesses more than two billion dollars to grow jobs, cut middle class income taxes to the lowest rate in sixty years, and we're creating tax free zones for business startups. the new new york is working creating tens of thousands of new businesses, and we're just getting started. to grow or start your business visit thenewny.com [ male announcer ] a car has a rather small rear-view mirror, so we can occasionally glance back at where we've been. it has an enormous windshield so we can look ahead to where we are going. now is always the time to go forward. and reimagine all the possibilities that lie before us. an ally for real possibilities.

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there's a major development in the war in syria that we're following right now. the breaking news here on cnn. the obama administration now releasing the latest u.s. intelligence assessment. the intelligence assessment believing with varying degrees of confidence that the syrian regime of president bashar al assad has used chemical weapons on what they describe as a small scale in syria, specifically the chemical agent sarin. that's the intelligence assessment. they're now searching for hard evidence to backup that intelligence assessment saying given the stakes involved and what we have learned from our own recent experience referring to the lack of wmd or chemical

weapons found in iraq back in 2003, intelligence assessments the white house says alone are not sufficient, only credible and corroborated facts that provide us with some degree of certainty will guide our decision making and strengthen our leadership of the international community. barbara starr's our pentagon correspondent. barbara, our viewers know in recent weeks and months the president has said if there's evidence of u ched by the syria regime or transferred to terrorist groups, that's a red line for the u.s., a game-changer if you will that would force the u.s. to take certain steps. what are you hearing over at t ntagon? >> well, wolf, i think most americans have exactly that question, does this mean u.s. troops could be headed into another war in the middle east? the moment. they want to get more information about all of this. there are other options for the u.s., diplomatic options to step up the pressure on assad, but

that certainly doesn't seem to be working. why are we saying not military action at least not right away? because the u.s. policy is that it would not go it alone in syria with u.s. military troops. they will have to get allies in the middle east in the gulf states to engage in this with them. and right now the persian gulf, the middle east very nervous about any additional instability. fo the countries there, the military question, the security question is how do they keep syria from imploding becoming a total insecured area and having either terrorism or chemical weapons cross borders into turkey, into iraq, into jordan and move across the middle east? right now the middle east effort is to try to stabilize the situation. that said, wolf, here at the pentagon top officials have been updating military options for weeks. they have been watching they

believe in the last several weeks the regime has continued to move chemical stockpiles around syria and they are not sure why. they believe they're still under the security of thechiefs of stn last week he couldn't be sure anymore where the chemical stockpiles were. i think there's another very interesting point in this letter, wolf, why are they uncertain? well, the letter talks about and i quote "this assessment is based in part on fis owe logical samples." we don't know what that means at this point, but what we do know is troops working in the area were going to bring out medical evidence of exposure to chemical weapons and that may be the first step in some of this. >> in this letter the white house sent to the armed services committee and the senate, they also said the white house we do believe any use of chemical weapons in syria would have very

likely originated with the assad regime, thus far we believe that the assad regime maintains custody of these weapons and has demonstrated a willingness to escalate its horrific use of violence against the syrian people. it didn't take very long for senator john mccain, the ranking member of the senate armed services committee who received this letter to respond. >> the president of the united states said that if the bashar al assad used chemical weapons, it would be a game-changer, that it would cross a red line. i think it's pretty obvious that red line has been crossed. now i hope the administration will consider what we have been recommending now for over two years of this blood letting and massacre and that is to provide a safe area for the opposition to operate, to establish a no-fly zone and provide weapons to the people in the resistance who we trust. >> let's go to dana bash up on

capitol hill, our chief congressional correspondent. dana, this is going to fuel what senator mccain and some of his associates like lindsey graham and others calling for for some time some heightened u.s. military activity if not sending troops on the ground. i don't think anyone is anxious to see that happen, but at least providing weapons if you will to the syrian rebels. >> absolutely. you just heard from john mccain that's exactly what it's doing. in fact he's saying i told you so, now let's get on it. let's get a way to stop this. one thing i want to tell you that also happened in the hallway just around the time senator mccain was talking is former senator john kerry now secretary of state was going through the hallway of the capitol and we asked him, myself and other reporters, about these reports. and he said there will be a letter coming to answer the senators that will confirm two instances. wolf, that's new. that is not in this letter here which is the one that john mccain received. we went through it a couple of times. it does not say anything about two instances. so we're trying to find out if

there's an additional letter coming because this is of course another fact, two instances, where were they, how do they know that? we want to get to the bottom of that because that was certainly news to us. back on the whole issue of john mccain, lindsey graham and others, john mccain also made the point of saying just as you said, wolf, that there's no need for boots on the ground. but the need, he said and this is proof just even this intelligence even though it's not completely confirmed, that they need to have some kind of in his words operational capability to secure these chemical weapons, not just of course assist those who are trying to overthrow the assad regime and so forth. it's the first and foremost goal of the united states right now needs to be to deal with these chemical weapons. of course as he said just in case to make sure i should say they don't get in the hands of other terrorist groups. >> dana, standby. senator mccain is joining us on the phone right now.

senator, when you got this letter from the white house, what was your immediate reaction? >> well, my immediate reaction was that i was pleased that the president corroborated evidence that the israelis, the french and the british and others have concluded that bashar al assad had used chemical weapons. a little concerned that this evidence has to be quote corroborated. i think it's very clear that they are -- that they have used it. and more importantly, we need to have operational capability to secure these weapons, chemical and bio logical weapons, because clearly they should not and we cannot let them fall into the wrong hands. >> do you believe the regime of bashar al assad, senator, has

complete control over those chemical weapons stockpiles? >> i think they have control over them at the moment. but some of them are in heavily contested areas and could easily fall into the hands of jihadist extremists. >> the president has said in recent weeks and months that if in fact the syrian regime were to use chemical weapons, that would cross a red line, it would be a game-changer. what do you think the u.s. needs to do now? >> i think that we need to do what i have advocated since the beginning, since this situation over the last two years has deteriorated dramatically and threatens the stability of the entire region and that is to provide a safe area inside syria for the opposition to govern, to make sure that weapons supplies fall into the hands of the right people and do what is necessary

to put additional pressures on the russians. i don't know how much -- what good it would do with the iranians, but certainly additional pressure's on the russians to stop their increasing supply of weapons to bashar al assad. >> i don't know if you heard our dana bash, our chief congressional correspondent, she caught up with the former senator now the secretary of state john kerry, a man you know well who says there are apparently two incidents where he believes -- where the u.s. believes the syrians did in fact use chemical weapons against the rebels. do you have more information about these two incidents? >> no. i don't have additional information. i had heard reports from people inside syria and israelis and french and british that they had evidence that bashar al assad had used those weapons. and it should not surprise us,

wolf. this guy will do whatever is necessary in order to ensure his position of power. and by the way, it is now a stalemate and has been a stalemate and the prospects of him being overthrown any time soon without taking out his air power and without supplying the right weapons to the right people and coordinating a government from inside syria, it may remain in stalemate and the massacre goes on. and finally, the king jordan is in town as you know. they are about to be overwhelmed by refugees. by the end of this summer they could have a refugee population that is half the population of jordan. think of what the united states would look like if we had half of our population in the form of refugees in our country. >> i can only imagine. i know king abdullah is raising that issue in all of his

meetings on capitol hill at the white house. the letter the white house sent you was very carefully crafted. >> yes. >> a couple nuances. they said that in the intelligence committee they've come up with this assessment with varying degrees of confidence. i assume that means that some of the 16 u.s. intelligence agencies have different assessments on how reliable this evidence is, is that right? >> i don't know how many of these different intelligence agencies who we have have agreed or disagreed, but i think there was that caveat in the letter which i think is important and i'm sorry to say may give them an out for not acting in a decisive fashion because if they all agreed and they concluded it, then the president would have to act because he has repeatedly described it as a red line that cannot be crossed. >> and one final question before

i let you go, senator. do you have any specific information on the details of when they used these chemical weapons, if in fact they did as this letter seems to suggest, the circumstances of the use of the sarin gas? >> well, they published reports are they used it once in aleppo and once around damascus, but i have not had any corroboration of that that that is indeed factual. but israeli intelligence, as you know, has concluded as well as the british and the french that at least twice it's been used. >> and on a totally unrelated matter, may be totally unrelated, your good friend and colleague senator lindsey graham of south carolina, he is now suggesting that the boston marathon bombings that the obama administration has to accept a

certain amount of blame for missing -- you know, missing certain signals, information for example that the russians presented. i'll read to you a sentence he said, senator. i'll get your quick reaction and let you go. i know you have to get going. senator lindsey graham, he said boston is becoming a case study in system failure, look at it from a 30,000-foot point view. you have russian services contacting two agencies without our government responsible for national security, the fbi and cia, they tell us we believe you have a radical islamists in your midst, we do interviews and everything responsible, however this suspected radical islamist is able to go back to russia and dagestan without the fbi or cia being made aware of it even though homeland security was. i wonder if you want to comment on what senator lindsey graham is suggesting. this is a pretty blunt indictment of the obama administration's handling of these guys, these tsarnaev

brothers in boston. >> i think senator graham raises very legitimate questions that require in my view congressional hearings. i've written a letter to senator carper, chairman of the homeland security committee asking for hearings on this. why is it that he left the country, tamerlan, and his -- and only the homeland security committee knew about it. he got back in without anybody knowing about it. and why did the russians feel it necessary to contact two different agencies of government and express their concern? and what were those concerns? so there's a great deal that needs to be investigated. and remember, wolf, that when we did the 9/11 commission and restructured government, one of the major objectives was to make

sure stove piping didn't take place. in other words, agencies not sharing information with each other. in fact, it seems that stove piping happened in this case, but we really do need to have a thorough investigation. and that's not to take away the courage and dedication of our police and fbi and all those others who did such a great job. >> if we don't learn from our mistakes, we're bound to repeat them. >> exactly. >> senator mccain, thank you so much. senator john mccain joining us. let's get back to the huge news potential today. the obama administration now suggesting for the first time that they do have an intelligence assessment believing that the syrian regime of president bashar al assad did in fact use chemical weapons against the rebels, specifically sarin gas. christiane amanpour is joining us from new york right now. christiane, the president in the past said this would be a game-changer, not specifying

what the obama administration or u.s. military would do, but potentially this is a huge development. >> well, wolf, let's get to some of the reporting that i've been doing on this issue. again, mentioning that the white house letter quite clearly calls it a small scale attack and still says they need to find more conclusive proof. but to some of the questions you've just been raising with some other reporters, as for what physiological evidence they were talking about. barbara starr was talking about that. i can tell you what the leader of the syrian opposition forces told me in an exclusive interview yesterday. they believe they've been told by their own forces inside that chemical weapons were used on at least three occasions, march 19th and that also corroborates what the israeli brigadier says. they claim have been used in homs, aleppo on two different instances and a suburb very close to damascus. when i asked him what physical proof, i asked this of the

leader of the u.s. backed free syrian army, he said that his doctors had taken soil samples, had taken blood samples from victims after the aleppo attack in march and had otherwise inspected and taken care of these victims who came to the hospital. he said that these have been sent out. and he was not able to tell me exactly where, but he told me yesterday that he's going straight back into syria and he is there now to seek more of this evidence and to give it to more of the officials in the outside world. remember, in the aleppo attack if it was indeed chemical weapons as they're claiming, there were some 20 people who were killed and about 100 who were injured. so that's as to what we're being told by the syrian opposition, now we heard over this week by the israeli brigadier general in charge of military intelligence, brigadier general who said at that security conference in israel that he believed that

sarin gas had been used and other potentially nonlethal chemical components. he based his assessment on what he said were i believe assessments from the ground and photographs. he talked about foaming at the mouth. he talked at shrunken pupils. so there is a lot of this evidence and suspicions that have come out. syrian government denying having used them but this is what the authorities are raising. >> the british and french several days ago, then the israelis a bit later and now the u.s. basically all coming down with the same assertion. >> right. now, you know what they're trying to do now. the united nations secretary general ban ki-moon has gathered a special investigative unit and they are now trying to get into syria to take some of these tests. but there are problems with that. that is as of yet the syrian government of bashar assad has not permitted that team for

perhaps obvious reasons to come into syria. and there's another problem, and that according to scientists is that some of this evidence can be corrupted over time. so it's very important to know what exactly was in the soil samples and in the blood samples that we're told the doctors removed from the victims and from the areas when these attacks apparently happened. i think it's also important to know that many in the security community certainly looking from abroad are very worried about the motives of the assad regime saying that it is possible that they could be using these chemical weapons in these small scale instances to judge and to gauge the reaction from the international community and to see if it is allowed to continue whether they would be able to continue to use it with impun y

impunity. back in the '80s saddam hussein used chemical weapons against his own people and against the iranians in the iran/iraq war and that was not reacted to by any stretch at the time. >> good point. all right. christiane, standby. we're following the breaking news. the obama administration now suggesting the syrian regime perhaps has crossed this red line and used chemical weapons against the rebels. we're following the other important news, senator lindsey graham now basically asserting that the obama administration had some major missteps, failed to deal with the suspicions that the russians provided the u.s. about the boston -- the elder boston bomber, the alleged boston bomber. we'll take a quick break. much more on both of these stories on the other side. ♪

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republican senator lindsey graham of south carolina, a key member of the senate armed services committee has issued a major indictment of the way the obama administration handled information coming from russia about the suspected bomber at the boston marathon. listen to what senator lindsey graham just said. >> boston is becoming to me a case study in system failure. between benghazi and boston, our systems are failing and we're

going backwards. we need to understand that bin laden may be dead, but the war against radical islam is very much alive. radical islam is on the march. and we need to up our game. >> pretty strong words over there from senator graham. let's bring back our chief congressional correspondent dana bash up on capitol hill. it looks like they're getting stronger and stronger, the comments coming from some of the obama administration's critics as far as the way the information leading up to the boston marathon bombings are concerned. >> there's no question about it they're becoming stronger and stronger and frankly the reaction is becoming more and more partisan. i should tell you that i had a conversation with senate intelligence chairwoman dianne feinstein asking about system failures and she didn't let me finish my question. she does not believe there was "stove piping" going on meaning there wasn't a problem with agencies not sharing information, which of course was a big problem pre-9/11.

but lindsey graham is saying of course the opposite. we should note he is somebody who has been as you've said a very strong critic of the obama administration. i talked to him after you just heard that for a while in the hallway. the point he was trying to make is that he believes -- suggested not so subtly that there was some politics going on. think of the timing, it was in and around the presidential election, right before it. the reason he made the connection between the boston bombing and benghazi is because as he did around the benghazi bombing, he is suggesting that the obama administration was trying to sort of clamp down on any fear that terrorism might still be alive and well when the president was trying to run politically on the idea that he got osama bin laden. so that is the political suggestion that he is making. i'll tell you one other thing that he told me and a few other reporters in terms of the substance of what he learned in this briefing that all senators had this morning. he said that what he was told by

the fbi official there is that the department of homeland security database got what he called pinged when the older brother left the u.s., went to russia and came back into the u.s. of course he took that trip about six months ago or so. the understanding was -- or it was unclear whether or not the u.s. government even knew that he left. but he said that they were told, the senators were told that it did set off an alert in the department of homeland security database. but the problem is that that did not get shared with the fbi and the cia. so that is part of what is feeding his accusation that the government is not sharing enough, that the government is not doing the job that it is supposed to be doing learning the lessons from pre-9/11 and not sharing this information in order to make sure that any suspect really is, you know, investigated and gone after and followed to make sure that something like what happened in boston does not happen. >> dana, standby.

lots of news happening up on capitol hill. over at the white house and in the boston investigation, especially this mysterious figure named misha. what was his role, if any, in the boston marathon bombings? how much evidence did this character misha supposedly have on the elder suspect who is now dead, tamerlan tsarnaev. we've got new information coming in. we'll share it with you right after this. [ nurse ] i'm a hospice nurse.

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tamerlan tsarnaev's uncle says a friend from cambridge may have brainwashed his nephew, a man known only by the name misha. but what role if any did he play in possibly radicalizing tamerlan tsarnaev? cnn's brian todd takes a closer look. >> family members now describe a mysterious man who they say had a mesmerizing influence on tamerlan tsarnaev. they only know him as misha. they say they don't know his full name. here is how the suspect's uncle described the man and his influence on the other brother in an interview with cnn. >> a new person in convert of islam of armenian decent. this person just took his brain, brainwashed him completely. tamerlan is off now. there's no obedience to respect his own father. that concerned me big time.

unbelievably. >> reporter: more pieces fit together in a telephone interview wolf blitzer did with the brother-in-law of the two suspects. he said he'd met misha twice, introduced to him by tamerlan. he didn't witness misha actually turning tamerlan into a radical islamist. >> but he certainly did have influence and did teach him things that would make tamerlan go away from the people and go more into the religion. maybe it's possible that he suggested to him some radical ideas. >> he said tamerlan tsarnaev had told him he'd quit boxing and listening to mainstream music because misha taught him that in islam it's not good those things. asked suspected misha was a terrorist group. >> i didn't suspect him in terror group or having terrorist ideas, but i know that they had

a lot of conversations about just, you know, islam and how islam is being attacked from the outside -- you know, from the western countries and how islam is under pressure. >> reporter: asked when tamerlan became a more devout muslim, the uncle and brother-in-law both say they noticed about four years ago. we searched for misha using the internet, a search database and social media cross referencing his name. one name did come up, we scoured matching addresses in the boston area, phone numbers and e-mails, we couldn't find him. so we're not mentioning his name. has misha ever been connected with the islamic society of boston? a mosque the two suspects attended? i put that question to mosque spokesman. is there such a person in this congregation? and do you think there could be anything to that? >> not to our knowledge. not to our knowledge. >> reporter: and another mosque

official told me "we are looking for him too." they say they want to find misha as much as anyone else right now. brian todd, cnn, boston. >> that's it for me, thanks very much for watching. i'll be back 5:00 p.m. eastern for a special cnn "the situation room." our coverage here in "cnn newsroom" continues with anderson cooper right after a quick break. ♪ the middle of this special moment and i need to run off to the bathroom. ♪ i'm fed up with always having to put my bladder's needs ahead of my daughter. ♪ so today, i'm finally talking to my doctor about overactive bladder symptoms. [ female announcer ] know that gotta go feeling? ask your doctor about prescription toviaz. one toviaz pill a day significantly reduces sudden urges and accidents, for 24 hours. if you have certain stomach problems or glaucoma, or can not empty your bladder, you should not take toviaz. get emergency medical help right away if your face, lips, throat or tongue swells.

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[ telephone ringing ] [ static warbles ] [ beeping ] red or blue? ♪ good afternoon everyone. i'm anderson cooper live in boston. we are following two breaking news stories today. we are learning new details 19-year-old terror suspect dzhokhar tsarnaev was not armed when he was hiding in the boat. and we are also breaking news on syria. chuck hagel says u.s. officials believe the syrian government has used chemicals in the battle to sustain power. he did not say exactly who was